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Supalemonhaze
Spore syringe hater.



Registered: 10/02/15
Posts: 6,725
Loc: 12" down Europe's butthole
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Haze's cheap petri dish substitute. Fast and easy pour agar TEK. 5
#23218339 - 05/12/16 01:33 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Type [#TEK-001] in find in page function to jump to tek.
I decided to post this TEK here as it has been in my journal for about a month until I finished testing. I am confident that if you follow everything as explained, you will have success with this TEK & container. This TEK was inspired mostly by the re-usability of Pasty plates and the visibility, ease and speed of preparation of regular plastic/glass petri dishes. For this TEK I use short but somewhat wide PP5 containers that are normally sold as "takeaway sauce containers" or "deli containers" on EBAY. If buying on EBAY, make sure the lids are also PP5, some containers tend to have a different plastic for lids which is not suitable for PCing.
 
Some advantages of using these containers are:
- Better visibility than most other plastic containers.

- Easily stack-able and they do not slip off each other.

- Reusable, unlike regular plastic plates.

- Cheaper than both disposable and especially than glass petri dishes in the long run.

- Most of these containers do not take a lot of space while in storage and PC-ing, the tapered bottoms makes them tightly stack-able when without lids.

- Almost as fast to pour in them as you would with a regular plastic sleeve and the ability to do more plates in less time than with a no-pour tek.

- Condensation is minimal compared to no-pour agar due to them being poured while the agar has cooled down a bit.

And now, some disadvantages:
- Since this is a pour tek, more sterile technique is needed than a no pour tek.

- Less visibility than regular petri dishes.

- Bulkier than regular petri dishes.
- Since these containers are shorter than containers such as the mini rounds, they are not suitable for no-pour teks (I have yet to confirm or disprove this but chances are the container's lid will be covered with agar due to boil over caused by the loss of pressure following a PC cycle).

- Better care needed to use than regular petri dishes due to taller sides.

I think no-pour teks are a stroke of genius as they allow people who are insecure about their sterile tek some peace of mind. That being said this TEK is directed at the folks who like the re-usability of PP5 containers but dislike the time and fiddling it takes to do no-pour agar as well as the cost of buying plastic/glass petri dishes. It is also good for those that are sterile tek savvy enough to pour their own plates successfully, being able to do so you might as well use a shorter container than ones used for no-pours both to save space and increase visibility as well as spend less cash than normal petri dishes by re-using these same containers over and over. Any suggestions for the improvement of this tek is welcome and appreciated.
[#TEK-001] Credit for this tek goes to Pastywhyte who first came up with the idea of pasty plates as well as Machiavelliavore for first recommending this type of container to me.
So firstly, you need to go spend some $$$ on some takeaway sauce containers. The ones I bought have a volume of 240ml with a 110mm base and are a little bit on the large side (idiot) but the company I bought from had smaller ones with an 80mm base and square lids that seem to be a better option. For those folks living in the USA there are endless suitable listings on EBAY for you to buy from. People in Europe having trouble to source these containers/getting them with decent shipping should take a look at Ampulla UK and Ampulla EU. If you live outside the UK check the shipping from both sites, the UK site wanted to charge me double the shipping for 50 glass jars. I have not modified these containers in any way so you will not see a GE hole. The reason behind this is that there will be enough air inside the container for the mycelium to colonize all of the agar and since condensation is usually not that much of a problem with pour teks, I have omitted the hole. Although the lids seal with the bottoms pretty tightly, there is no rubber or foam so some minimal GE is still taking place, I assume. For those lazy people who skipped the first part of the post, these are the containers you will need:
 
Now that you have the containers, and assuming you already have/know where to get your agar supplies we can get right down to it. Grab your PC and fill it with enough water for a 30minute cycle, then put it on a low/medium setting of heat.

Now, mix your agar recipe of choice, in this tek I will be using MEA which I use a blue food colouring in. (colour code your agar recipes so you can easily tell which plate has which recipe at any given time, don't want your cultures to get lazy now, do ya?). Transfer your agar mix into a glass bottle, screw in the cap lightly and wrap some foil around the neck of the bottle.
I use a 1l wine bottle filled with 700ml of agar mix, this is enough for 20 containers for me, smaller PP5's will require less. I recommend you use a bit smaller containers so you will get more plates per volume of agar while still having enough room for plenty of good sized wedges for grain inoculation. Containers with a base width of 80-100mm are optimal.
Now your agar mix is ready and you need to prepare your containers, turning up the heat on your stove is recommended at this point. This is what we have so far:
 
Now, take your PP5 containers and stack the lids and bottoms in each other. You should use something to separate the lids from each other, the heat and pressure of PCing and weight of the lids will cause the lip of the lids at the bottom to warp and they will not seal very well. Paper towels or pieces of foil provide a good enough gap. This is an observation I made while testing the containers over the past couple of months so in the pic you will not see the lids being separated. I highly recommend that you do.

Wrap your lids and bottoms separately with foil (a double layer is a good idea), the reason for this will be explained soon. This is what we have now:

Now that everything is wrapped and done, we are ready to PC. Bring anything that you will need for your coming session, here I put a container with my tyvek sleeves and a scalpel wrapped in foil. I wrapped the PP5 lids in a way that water will not seep in and soak them but I put an upside down saucer underneath them just in case. Placing the bottoms right side up will prevent water from getting in them. I think this is one advantage over using these containers instead of glass petris, they tend to fall over during the cycle and fill up with water. Not cool. Make sure that none of the plastic is touching the sides and bottom of the PC or they will most probably warp, the rack that PCs usually come with is enough to protect them from the bottom.

Now, PC your agar at your usual pressure and time. I use 30 minutes @ 15psi. Try not to exceed 15psi as more heat will increase the chances that your lids end up warped and ultimately, won't fit on your bottoms.

Hopefully, if you are still reading this your PC has not exploded and you are still very much alive. In which case, if you have a flowhood it is now a good time to transfer your PC in front of it until the pressure drops to 0 and you can open the lid. If you are using a SAB to pour your agar, you can leave it on the stove/move it to the room you will be working in until the pressure drops. Do not manually remove the pressure by removing your PC's weight, this will cause your agar to boil over and make a mess in your PC.

Now that you can open the PC, remove everything from it and put your agar bottle and containers in front of your hood/ inside your SAB. You will need to wait for the agar to be cool enough for you to handle the bottle without burning your hands, this will reduce the amount of condensation considerably. I like to use this time to start prepping for my session, putting on gloves and tyvek sleeves, wiping the table down with iso etc etc. It is a good idea when using a SAB to spray the box while your agar is about to finish it's PC cycle so you will not cover your agar bottle and containers with water.

As you can see, I am able to hold the agar bottle with nothing more than a glove. This is the correct temperature for you to start your pour and will considerably reduce condensation. So, unwrap your containers and lids while leaving the foil beneath them. The bottoms are fine to unwrap completely but the lids must stay on the freshly sterilized foil or else the bottom of the lid (it's inside) will be touching the table/SAB.
 
Remove foil and cap from your agar bottle and remove a container from the stack, pouring gently until you fill it to your desired volume. Once you fill one container, put the lid on and place a new container on top and repeat until your agar runs out. Don't snap the lids for now, if you do a vacuum will be created by the agar cooling which will suck in air when you open them to make your transfers/inoculations. Stacking the containers is important, as this completely eliminates condensation on your plates at the bottom.
  
Once you have poured all the agar, leave your plates to cool for an hour or whatever is your usual cooling time and snap on the lids one by one. If the agar inside is still a bit warm, stack them again until they cool completely to help keep condensation to a minimum. As recommended above, leaving the agar to completely cool before snapping the lids is the best course of action.

Now you have plenty of plates for you to work with that you can easily see growth and contams through. Look at that pesky green spot in the last pic.
  
Thank you for reading, and good luck with your culture work!
Now get to work!
Edited by Supalemonhaze (06/07/16 11:31 AM)
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Josex
#cheat_code



Registered: 11/13/15
Posts: 8,995
Loc:
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Supalemonhaze]
#23218456 - 05/12/16 02:00 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Great visibility indeed. Very well put write-up as well 
Do you think you can use those with no-pour as well?
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Supalemonhaze
Spore syringe hater.



Registered: 10/02/15
Posts: 6,725
Loc: 12" down Europe's butthole
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Josex]
#23218477 - 05/12/16 02:06 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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I doubt it, they are short compared to no-pour containers so the agar might get on your lids during PCing due to boil over. The release of pressure makes your agar boil hard. Having agar in the lip of your lids can be a vector for contamination.
However, there are a lot of different styles for this container, if you find one that is taller I can't see why it wouldn't work.
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oontribe


Registered: 01/14/15
Posts: 3,570
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Supalemonhaze]
#23218492 - 05/12/16 02:10 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Gonna monitor this thread
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Josex
#cheat_code



Registered: 11/13/15
Posts: 8,995
Loc:
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Supalemonhaze]
#23218495 - 05/12/16 02:11 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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I see. If I had a hood I'd def be trying this. I know some people pour inside a SAB but personally I wouldn't feel very safe doing it. Great idea Supa, thanks for sharing.
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Supalemonhaze
Spore syringe hater.



Registered: 10/02/15
Posts: 6,725
Loc: 12" down Europe's butthole
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Josex] 1
#23218508 - 05/12/16 02:16 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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I tried to pour in my SAB a couple of times but as with everything I ever did in it, they ended up contaminating.
If you are relatively new to SABs and wish to do a pour, making small batches with small bottles is better than a large 1l bottle. There are those small glass bottles that juice usually comes in, perfect for a small batch of plates.
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spacechildo
proletarians rise up


Registered: 01/24/13
Posts: 19,243
Loc: Babylon
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Supalemonhaze]
#23218663 - 05/12/16 02:58 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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basically different containers from pastys and pour agar? nice pics!
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tripdawg420
low life with no life



Registered: 02/02/09
Posts: 7,071
Loc: illinois
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: spacechildo]
#23218676 - 05/12/16 03:02 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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pretty cool
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Supalemonhaze
Spore syringe hater.



Registered: 10/02/15
Posts: 6,725
Loc: 12" down Europe's butthole
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: spacechildo]
#23218714 - 05/12/16 03:12 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
spacechildo said: basically different containers from pastys and pour agar? nice pics!
Yeah. But they require a certain method to use. I will explain later today because I am at work right now but I can say that I tried a "simpler" method which ended up in disaster.
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Supalemonhaze
Spore syringe hater.



Registered: 10/02/15
Posts: 6,725
Loc: 12" down Europe's butthole
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: spacechildo]
#23219821 - 05/12/16 07:33 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
spacechildo said: basically different containers from pastys and pour agar? nice pics!
It's true that the containers are similiar to what pasty uses but apart from the material, these containers call for different methods than no pours and regular petris.
As I explained above they are not suitable for a no pour tek so at first I tried to use them in the same manner you would regular petris, by putting the lid loosely on top and stacking them but the heat and pressure makes the lids seal with the base, especially the ones at the bottom as the weight of the ones on top helps make a seal. I opened the PC and saw that almost all my lids where warped and crushed.
So I set on finding out a simple way to use them without problems but it still wasn't problem free. I figured I would write up how one can use them safely so folks wouldn't have to throw their containers away.
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Munchauzen


Registered: 06/22/11
Posts: 14,342
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Supalemonhaze]
#23220062 - 05/12/16 08:22 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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PsilocyBen17
Pin Pornographer


Registered: 10/20/13
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Munchauzen]
#23220213 - 05/12/16 09:06 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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gunna read this later yo
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dankington
The Stranger




Registered: 03/14/15
Posts: 4,577
Loc: 8te
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: PsilocyBen17]
#23221618 - 05/13/16 09:06 AM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Nice write-up Supa!
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Supalemonhaze
Spore syringe hater.



Registered: 10/02/15
Posts: 6,725
Loc: 12" down Europe's butthole
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: dankington]
#23221856 - 05/13/16 10:22 AM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Ziran
The Hero of Time




Registered: 02/03/16
Posts: 6,030
Loc: Temple of Time
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Supalemonhaze]
#23222774 - 05/13/16 03:29 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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I found these, And they are microwavable! I'll let you know when I get around to testing them in the PC.
-------------------- Song Of Healing
Updated Pf Tek Guide Ziran's Teks AMU Q&A Thread The Chinese word for nature is zìrán and it means that of which is of itself.

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bodhisatta 
Smurf real estate agent


Registered: 04/30/13
Posts: 61,889
Loc: Milky way
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Josex]
#23222994 - 05/13/16 04:41 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Josex said: I see. If I had a hood I'd def be trying this. I know some people pour inside a SAB but personally I wouldn't feel very safe doing it. Great idea Supa, thanks for sharing.
I've poured at least 600 plates now in a 66quart still air box.
A box of 25x20 sleeves is 500 dishes I've burned thru close to two at home. At work I've blown thru dozens of boxes but those get poured open air
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Supalemonhaze
Spore syringe hater.



Registered: 10/02/15
Posts: 6,725
Loc: 12" down Europe's butthole
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Ziran]
#23223556 - 05/13/16 07:31 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Ziran said:

I found these, And they are microwavable! I'll let you know when I get around to testing them in the PC.
Yeah, those will work. Those are also good for no pour I think but visibility is less with tall containers and coloured lid.
Lids won't stack but they seem thick and they close with a thread so you can use them like you would with normal plates if you want to pour in them. Just leave them half a turn open and stack them in the PC. They would require a bit of fiddling whilr pouring since you would need to turn the lids for them to come off.
I think no pours would be more comfortable with those. I assume you havr seen pasty's tek for no pour agar, right?
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blackout


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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: Supalemonhaze]
#23225050 - 05/14/16 07:48 AM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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I posted these links a while back. I can get various chocolates & sweets in perfectly clear PP5 containers.
Quote:
blackout said: I have gotten a few very clear PP5 containers recently, they were all larger than I would want for agar but I reckon there is a good container out there waiting to be found.
These ones look nice, it says transparent and some of their other items say "semi transparent", so its possibly the more clear type
http://www.ampulla.co.uk/Clear-Plastic-Food-Pots-&-Tubs/160ml-Clear-Round-Flat-Pot-and-Lid/p-206-1846/
here is a semitransparent one and it does look more cloudy, in the previous link you can see the stamping on the base pretty clearly http://www.ampulla.co.uk/Clear-Plastic-Food-Pots-&-Tubs/130ml-Clear-Square-Food-Pot-&-103mm-TE-Lid-/p-206-3531/
Edited by blackout (05/14/16 07:55 AM)
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dankington
The Stranger




Registered: 03/14/15
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: blackout]
#23225087 - 05/14/16 08:11 AM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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Supalemonhaze
Spore syringe hater.



Registered: 10/02/15
Posts: 6,725
Loc: 12" down Europe's butthole
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Re: Haze's re-usable petri dish subsitute & pour agar TEK. [Re: dankington]
#23225824 - 05/14/16 12:14 PM (7 years, 8 months ago) |
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That's were I got them from. It's also my cheapest source for jars. Very cool site but shipping is not cheap to most countries in the EU so I try and buy shitloads when I do. Their jars are pretty good too, considering quarts are only like 80cents each.
Funny, I didn't link the site because I thought it would be against the rules. Guess I might as well put it there.
Edit:
I think it was you as well who helped me with my litre pp5's being crushed blackout. Wasn't it?
Edited by Supalemonhaze (05/14/16 12:16 PM)
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